The general manager of the China Film Co-Production Corporation, Miao Xiaotian, has announced that China is willing to collaborate on joint film projects with Iran, Variety reported on Monday.

“China has signed co-production agreements with 22 countries. Similar agreements between Iran and China are in the works, and will be signed by the end of this year,” he said.

He made the remarks on Monday during “Focus on Iran: Dialogue between Iranian and Chinese Filmmakers”, a session that the Shanghai International Film Festival organized. Eight Iranian movies are competing at the event that will run until June 24.

Iranian filmmaker Reza Mirkarimi who is also the director of Iran’s Fajr International Film Festival gave an overview of Iranian cinema.

The manager of the International Relations Department of the Fajr festival, Kamyar Mohsenin, also attended the meeting.

“Governments can work to promote cooperation between countries, but the implementation should be done by filmmakers. Filmmakers need to have more dialogue. Maybe a movie on children’s topics can be a starting point of our collaboration,” Mohsenin said.